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The National Gallery in London is implementing a panel of citizens to advise the museum on its policy and direction. The new assembly will be comprised of members of public from across the United Kingdom.
Next month, 15,000 households in the UK will receive invitations to participate. A civil lottery process will then select 50 people, before the group is whittled down again to 20 individuals who will sit on the citizens’ panel for the next five years.
The new initiative, dubbed NG Citizens, aims to empower potential visitors and democratize the museum by allowing average citizens to be part of the decision-making process at the museum. The group is also intended to reflect the diversity of the UK.
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“The gallery aims to shape its programmes and priorities around the needs and aspirations of communities across the UK,” the National Gallery in London explained in a statement.
While the new assembly is not expected to directly impact the selection of artworks or exhibitions on view at the institution, it will be responsible for recommendations on the gallery’s purpose, priorities, and public value. The institution has presented the assembly as an opportunity to deepen its relationship with its domestic audience.
NG Citizens will be overseen by Involve, a UK–based public participation charity with more than 20 years of experience with public engagement projects.
Several European institutions have employed this kind of model in an effort to bolster local public engagement, including the Federal Art Gallery in Bonn and the Dresden State Art Collections in Germany, the Château de Versailles in France, and the New Art Exchange in Nottingham and the Birmingham Museums Trust in the UK.